Kennett senior center launches Neighbors in Action' program

Staff photo by Wm. Shawn Weigel
The RSVP Legends band performs at the Kennett Area Senior Center’s holiday celebration, which was held in conjunction with the kickoff for the Neighbors in Action program last Tuesday.

KENNETT SQUARE — The Kennett Area Senior Center’s newest initiative is designed to bring the community together in an effort to address the needs of the growing aging population.

The senior center Tuesday kicked off their “Neighbors in Action” program, the brainchild of program coordinator Ken Schreffler.

Funded in part by the Chester County Department of Aging Services, the new program unites paid program participants with both one another and with a growing pool of volunteers.

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Schreffler said that NIA started as a side program at the KASC to provide meals and other necessities to homebound and shut in residents.

As the need for those services continued to increase, KASC director Anita O’Connor hired Schreffler to expand the program and find a way to make it economically feasible to deliver those services.

To that end, Schreffler has created a sliding pay scale for the program that puts the annual dues in line with income.

For example, someone with an income under $11,000 would only have to pay $25 per year - $35 if a married couple – for a wide array of services.

Someone making over $100,000 would be paying $750 ($1,050 if married) for the same set of services.

The program also offers a combined membership fee for both NIA and the KASC – again, on a rolling scale that addresses all income brackets, Schreffler said.

He added that comparable services provided by similar companies run in the neighborhood of $20 per hour, usually with a minimum of three hours per session.

“That’s just at the minimum,” Schreffler said.

The fees, he said, go back into the senior center’s coffers to help continue their existing programs.

Services provided include daily life activities like giving rides to and from appointments, grocery shopping, yard work and babysitting, to more personal services like companionship and telephone reassurance.

Schreffler said that the NIA project is an intergenerational project, and that while it services older citizens, the model includes volunteers from all walks of life.

“I think this could stand as a model for other senior centers in Chester County,” Schreffler said.

Schreffler said that NIA also works with area vendors to provide services not covered under the new program, adding that the vendors are vetted and in some cases come with arrangements to provide services at a reduced cost.

Schreffler said that it’s easy to imagine the scenarios where the program succeeds, with neighbors helping one another with the promise of the work being paid forward at another time.

“Maybe a young adult might babysit, while young parents help them with yard work,” Schreffler said. “That’s building a community, and that’s neighbors in action.”

For more information on the program, or to volunteer your services, contact Schreffler at 610-444-4819.